Puzzlement of the day

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 166301

Shelley:
> > > My theory is that a Wizard Godfather is the same as a normal
> > > Godfather--someone that is supposed to take care of you if your 
> > > parents can't and there aren't other relatives. Thus, if the 
> > > Dursleys didn't want Harry, Sirius would have been the next in 
> > > line to raise Harry. 

Kim Jaudon <kim4fsu@> wrote:
> > Except "Godfather" is a Christian designation.  In the mainstream
> > religions with which I am familiar, it is a person who is 
> > responsible for continuing a child's spiritual growth.  In that 
> > way, it's more than "taking care of."  It's a vow to continue 
> > what the parents have begun, and to continue the faith to which 
> > they hold.  In that context, I think this is a fascinating 
> > question that none of us here will be able to answer.  What is 
> > the faith of the wizarding world?  Ah now...that is the question, 
> > isn't it?
 
colebiancardi: 
> well, I am not an expert on other Christian religions, but I thought
> Godparents were a Catholic thing.  I am not aware if other Christian
> faiths use the same rituals & ceremonies that the Catholic Church
> uses.  Also, that is the traditional defination of a Godparent - "it
> is a person who is responsible for continuing a child's spiritual
> growth".  I am an lasped Catholic & yet my brother asked me to be 
> his son's Godmother.  I just think it is for ceremony nowadays - 
> but I could be wrong.


SSSusan:
Godparents are definitely a Protestant thing, too -- at least in some 
Protestant denominations.  I can speak for us Episcopalians, anyway.  
Baptism is an entire-parish kind of thing for us; those present 
pledge to support the parents and godparents in raising up the child, 
particularly in his/her spiritual growth.

Yet you're right, too, that for many folks in the U.S. it's a very 
secular thing -- someone(s) who is being asked if they'll watch out 
for, or even raise, the child should something happen to the parents.


colebiancardi:
> However, in the context of the Wizarding World, perhaps Godparents 
> are wizards who are responsible for continuing a child's wizarding 
> growth.  

SSSusan:
I agree that this is quite possible.  I think what we end up with is 
what Kim asked, above:  

>>> In that context, I think this is a fascinating question that none 
of us here will be able to answer.  What is the faith of the 
wizarding world? <<<

I think, as with all Christian terminology or "events" (for lack of a 
better word coming to me at the moment) which we encounter in the 
books (Christmas, Easter, christening), we are at a loss to know just 
what they mean in the WW.  

What *is* the faith of the wizarding world, indeed?  We know JKR's 
background, we know she refers to Christian holidays & 
christening/godparents in the book -- and clearly the role of 
godparent is supposed to be a very important one from the way she 
presents it -- but as others have pointed out here in the past, 
regarding Christmas and Easter in particular, JKR never indicates 
that these are more than secular holidays.  

So unless JKR addresses it directly in Book 7 or in an interview or 
on her website, I don't imagine we're really going to know the 
precise way in which the WW views godparents.  Responsible for 
spiritual development? Responsible for raising the child if parents 
die?  A legal obligation? a moral one? both?  

I'd say we can't know, other than that she seems to have presented 
the fact of Sirius' being Harry's godfather as having meant something 
quite serious (pardon the pun) for Harry.  Sirius could sign his 
permission slip for Hogsmeade trips in the Dursleys' stead.  Harry 
could immediately contemplate the possibility of living with Sirius.  
So guardianship seems a part of it.  But about the spiritual "raising 
up" of the child, that's not clear, imo.

Siriusly Snapey Susan